Congressional housemates serve as sitcom fodder

WASHINGTON -- Here's the plot:

Four middle-aged men in Congress share a passion for policy and a house away from their families. They laugh. They eat takeout. They discuss water rights and dairy price supports.

Al Franken, comedy writer and "Saturday Night Live" alumnus, is trying to massage this material into a television sitcom. He's working loosely from a real-life model -- a group house on Capitol Hill owned by California Rep. George Miller and occupied during congressional work weeks by Miller and three other Democrats.

Franken will give CBS a pilot sometime this winter. His working title is "Little House on the Hill."

Miller laughs at Franken's description of the living arrangement as "adorable." He has owned the house since the late 1970s and has been renting space to colleagues since 1983.

"It beats going home to some apartment by yourself," Miller says.

Not like in the movies

Here's the layout: Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., sleep in the living room, near an open kitchen. Miller and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., have private rooms upstairs.

Franken spent some time with the guys during the fall to get a sense of the living conditions and the interplay among four Type A personalities. He came away with an appreciation for the sacrifices they make in the name of public service.

"They're basically middle-class people who have to have two residences so that they can do their work in Washington and spend time in their districts," Franken says. "Washington isn't like it is in the movies. This is not grand living."

Congressional history is replete with lawmakers who save money by sharing living quarters -- Abraham Lincoln did so when he served in the House. A few sleep in their offices.

Schumer, 51, has household seniority over Durbin, 57, but gave up the bedroom because Durbin, after six years on a couch in a previous shared living arrangement, insisted on a bed.

Durbin says Miller also nudged Schumer back to the couch. "Miller told Schumer he'd have to pay more rent for the bedroom," Durbin says.

Pretzels and Diet Coke

The two-story row house could use a fresh coat of blue paint. It won't get one, though. "No one is terribly interested in fixing it up," Miller says.

The furnishings, described by Durbin, make the place look like a Goodwill warehouse.

And don't even ask about the food.

"The only thing we have left is pretzels. Pretzels and Diet Coke," Miller says. "We ate all the healthy stuff earlier."

Durbin had a sedate description of the setup.

"You have middle-aged white males sitting around talking about grandchildren and Metamucil," he says.

Franken says he is not basing his characters on Miller, Schumer, Durbin and Delahunt.

"It wouldn't be fair to them," Franken says. "I don't want people sitting there saying, 'I didn't realize that George Miller wets his bed.'"

Hypothetically speaking, of course.